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Just wanted to say that my Rise of the Runelords Anniversary hardback arrived today – a compilation of all the RPG modules. It really is a beautiful book and I highly recommend it to die-hard fans of the card game. I don’t play the RPG but through playing the card game I have become increasingly intrigued and fascinated by its cast of characters, mysterious locales and devious plotlines. The card game doesn’t do the best of jobs at filling in the backstory or making it clear exactly who all these odd npcs are and how they fit in with the story. That’s no bad thing, the card game lets you make your own stories and connections, but as a bit of an obsessive geek I wanted to go one step further and really immerse myself in this fascinating world.
The book, as I have mentioned, is beautiful – packed with great artwork (the maps and locations are particularly fascinating – now you can actually ‘see’ what locations like the Glassworks and the Catacombs of Wrath look like!) – and of course, loads of backstory and information on the denizens of Sandpoint and its environs. At last I know exactly who the Shopkeep’s daughter is (other than being, well, the shopkeep’s daughter), the significance of the ‘monster in the closet’ barrier, the purpose and relations of npcs such as Ven Vinders, Ameiko Kaijitsu and Shalelu Andosana. It feels like the card game was the trailer and now I am finally getting to see the ‘movie’ and fit all the pieces together.
So, while pricey, I highly recommend the book. It is a shame there won’t ever be a hardback compilation of the Skull & Shackles AP (Paizo should really think more about the crossover between the curious card gamers and their RPG products), but based on what I have read with this and the enjoyment I am getting out of it, I may very well start picking up the S&S individual modules so that I can immerse myself in the skulduggery of the shackles. Damn it Paizo. Take my money! :-P
Anyway, just wanted to share!
while I agree I would love to see more compilations? I understand why they don't do them.
It is because people who subscribe to the monthly modules wouldn't need to subscribe if they knew eventually a full book would be coming out. They said they did Rise of the Runelords because it was what got the ball rolling.
I picked it up too and am actually starting to get into the Role Playing game, after I got into the card game and am going to run RotRL with my family.
Fantastic book, lots of character development and story in there to explain what we do in the card game.
I wanted to buy this, but can't justify the cost knowing I won't ever play the RPG. What I'd love to see is a "stripped down" PDF version at a much lower price designed to be used with PACG. With what I imagine would be just a little editing of the text from the Adventure Path book, give a short scenario introduction, a description of each proper noun villain or henchmen in the scenario, and maybe a short epilogue. Then in the back put an appendix of proper noun allies.
I'd love to be able to buy that.
What I am finding most intriguing is that I have been using some of the main NPC allies in the book in my Harsk deck.
I like that some of the best allies in the card game that we can use end up being some of your more important allies in the RPG
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While I didn't get the hard cover compilation of RotR, I did get the Anniversary version PDF(s). But then again, I am a person that enjoys the RPG side of the company. We never really played through a complete Adventure Path and we're doing it now with Kingmaker. (The current DM has utilized major parts of a couple chapters in APs as part of his world.) I will try to push my DMs to use Skull & Shackles next. (Another AP that we've picked up for the group.) Loved the premise and the player's guide. (We're allowed, as players in our group, to read the Player's Guide for APs ... just not any of the other content.)
And on top of that, I love the comic. The first series, 1-12, gave an interesting view to Sandpoint and the initial scenarios.
That's what draws me into this game ... the tie-ins to the Adventure Paths of RPG and the comic. I can get immersed into the PACG because I see how the characters would behave. I can see how they interact.
And like Yoshua said, you can see different NPCs pop up as Allies, Henchmen and Villains.
Thanks Naner!
Yes, I'm one of the people who worked on the Rise of the Runelords Adventure guide, and it has the prologues & epilogues Hawkmoon is seeking. We're doing a series for Skull & Shackles with the new twist of timely updates to coincide with the official monthly releases.
I was looking into creating such a guide when BoardGameGeek user Byron Campbell beat me to the punch. He's an editor with a writing degree by trade, so it made more sense for me to help out with formatting the document, finding Community Use Artwork, and suggesting edits; I wrote the prologues because he initially wasn't planning on writing anything for the introductory scenarios.
Byron gets a lot of information from the Campaign Journals and Pathfinder Wiki entries (eg - material available under the Community Use Agreement) to come up with the stories, so there's a little variability depending on what an individual GM decides to do with their campaign.
About those big hardcover books, another thing to consider is the cost of new artwork. Licensing images isn't cheap, so it's a tremendous benefit to Paizo's user community that they let us use a subset of it for free. Read the community use guidelines on this website for more details.